Losing my milk

[songbird516]

I would also try just eating more. The oatmeal is a good idea, and make sure to add butter/cream/egg yolk or all three (I do). More calories with good nutrients can be really helpful. Water and tea might help, but your body might want more actual nutrients.

[songbird516]

Originally Posted by KatrinaLoves Woah whaaa? Do you have any links to information on this? When I drink to thirst, it's barely more, in ounces, than how much milk I need to produce. I aim for 150oz/day, and that's with a typical production of 48oz (with the goal of 60oz). It takes huge effort for me to consciously drink if it's more than 60oz-ish. I can't imagine how someone could get too much water unless they were drinking gallons, so what your saying is news to me.

I think that a lot of people drink too much water. The recommendation to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day was never based on science. Drinking too much water can decrease your metabolism. Here is an interesting blog post about it.

http://180degreehealth.com/2012/02/h...ould-you-drink

Also consider that if you are drinking more water to "up your supply", probably the milk is not much higher in calories than what you would have been producing without the water. Basically you have more watery milk. I don't know about studies on this, but it just makes sense to me.

[BeccaSueCongdon]

Another option you could consider - and it totally doesn't work for everyone (especially since you WOH) - is to cosleep so that she can have all night access to the breast and increase your supply with increased night nursing. It's possible it could mess with her nighttime sleep patterns and cause sleep disturbances, so thats something to weigh together in the mix too.

((hugs)) to you.

[Teexie]

How "all of a sudden" was it?
My supply completely TANKED out of nowhere when DD was 9 months old. One day I had the usual supply, and the next day it was like there was nothing. DD was very frustrated, and I was very panicked! You have gotten great advice, but just wanted to add what I did:

1. Started taking fenugreek and the other vitamin recommended on kellymom, pretty much a few hours after I noticed the decrease.
2. Nursed like crazy as much as I could. I pretty much kept my shirt off for a couple days lol.
3. Pumped my empty breasts after nursing DD to sleep for naps and nighttime. Pumped even after nursing in the middle of the night.
4. Cranked the heat up and slept skin to skin (we were already cosleeping anyway).
5. Ate and drank water more than usual.

My supply was back to normal in about 5-6 days, IIRC. I have no idea what happened, because it really did seem to be out of nowhere (no new separations, not a ton of solids, had been nursing normally, etc.). I didn't get a period either. I guess it's possible I could have ovulated and not gotten a period, but my supply has never dropped like that since I did get my period back around 12 months.
Good luck mama!

[Connor]

Fenugreek usually has best results if used with blessed thistle.

[yogamama28]

I've been doing a million different things to try and get my supply back up and I think I am guardedly optimistic. I really think its working. I didn't have to supplement yesterday at all and after a couple nursing sessions, my breasts didn't even feel completely "empty". I'm going to keep up all that I have been doing. At this point, I'd rather have too much milk than not enough. Thank you all for all your help. I really appreciate it a ton. Hopefully my supply will last at least a few months longer... If not, I feel like I at least know that I've done everything that I can.

[dnh]

what have you been doing that has been working for you?

[Nerissa]

I am sorry you are dealing with this. I WOH and my supply tanked at 8 or 9 moths with both boys. Nothinf I did helped. I ampumping and storing like crazy right now in hopes ai can avoid it this time around.

[yogamama28]

Originally Posted by dnh what have you been doing that has been working for you?

I drank Mother's Milk tea like crazy, took 9-12 fenugreek pills, added a little extra food, drank a lot of water and had dd nurse a lot while she was home with me this weekend. At work, I've added an extra pumping. I don't get much out at that pumping but at least it stimulates production, I think. I didn't have to supplement all weekend which was huge and dd was an absolute peeing machine so she must have been getting a lot. All good news to me.

[KobeeJacknGradysMama]

i was going to say maybe af was returning?